Toxins in foods, cosmetics, household items, and the environment may be linked to even more illnesses than we realize. Wellness warrior, Suzanne Somers, talks with health experts to get to the bottom of the effects of toxins on our bodies in her latest book, “Tox-Sick.”

It’s not difficult to find information linking toxins to cancer. But can they cause other common health problems, like asthma, stomach issues, and hormonal imbalance? How about weight gain and depression?

I caught up with Suzanne on what she uncovered and how we all can live a healthier, less toxic lifestyle.

An Interview With Suzanne Somers on ‘Tox-Sick’

Liz Thompson: First off, love the book! You share super insightful interviews with several doctors on the importance of eliminating toxins. We tend to think of toxins as leading to diseases like cancer, but your research shows they are involved in many widespread maladies. Do you think toxins are the root of all disease?

Suzanne Somers: Let’s say many diseases of today are rooted in the massive toxic assault. Unfortunately, this experiment on “us” has had no long-term studies. Chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides (glyphosate being the worst) are aggravating, then add in genetically modified food, and what you have is a toxic soup accumulating in our bodies. At some point (and it’s different for everyone) we reach what I refer to as a tipping point. It is at that moment the liver says, “I give up.” The liver is our detox organ. At present, in most all humans, our livers are groaning. When the liver can no longer do its job, these toxins are free to roam about in the body. In my book, I discuss the pathway, but I will give you a thumbnail at this juncture as to how it works:

Toxins enter into the body three ways: through the skin, in the food we eat (which puts them into the gastrointestinal tract), and in the air we breathe. Not much we can do about the air, with the exception of that air we can control in our homes. When chemicals or processed food goes into our G.I. tracts, the liver is supposed to extract all toxins but an overloaded liver will “spit” them out into the portal vein and then all the toxins end up in the G.I. tract. If you have imbalanced gut flora from overuse of antibiotics and toxic buildup, you have a recipe for disaster. You need the right balance of good and bad flora. If not, these toxins are now free to go on a rampage in your bloodstream and what do they do? They literally “eat” through the lining of the barrier wall of the G.I. tract, allowing them to “leak out”—this is called leaky gut—into the bloodstream and once there, they look for fatty organs and glands to invade; maybe the pancreas, maybe the thyroid or others, but the organ toxins most want to invade is the brain. The brain is 65 percent fat and toxins love to live in fat. Now, here’s where it gets really dangerous–when the brain starts accumulating toxins, the brain itself shrinks to make more room for the chemicals. Now you’re in trouble. This is where ADD, ADHD, OCD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and yes, Alzheimer’s and cancer have their opportunity to flourish. This is why eliminating toxins as best you can is your greatest defense against the diseases and conditions of today.

LT: Your book also covers how eating a fat-free diet can lead to, among other things, inflammation. Do all physical symptoms of health issues boil down to inflammation?

SS: Ever since we went nonfat, we’ve all become fatter and sicker. And, no small thing, non-fat food doesn’t taste as good. What is better than full fat yogurt? What is better than organic yummy butter, or olive oil or grass-fed rib-eye steak? Every cell in the body requires cholesterol, yet we’ve spent billions of dollars trying to eliminate it–one of our body’s most important building blocks. Every cell in the body requires protein, fat (cholesterol), and carbohydrates to reproduce.

The brain cannot operate without cholesterol. New science has proven that the fat-free movement was a flawed experiment. In the 1950s, researcher Ancel Keys determined that because President Dwight Eisenhower ate bacon and eggs every morning and then had a heart attack, that fat and cholesterol was the culprit. He conducted a flawed study to declare fat as the offender and as a result the country went low fat. The food manufacturers jumped on board and an industry was born.

Inflammation is an indicator of good health or poor health. For instance, if you take a highly sensitive CRP (C-reactive protein) blood test, your number should be low, between .05 and 1.0. Recently, I was with a girlfriend who was coughing incessantly. I knew she had had this chronic cough for quite some time. So I gently suggested to her that she might want to take this blood test. Her numbers came back at 16, which is frighteningly high. Shortly afterward she had a heart attack. This was a woman who ate a non-fat diet and didn’t listen to the signs and the “language” of her body.

One of the things I try to teach in my books is that our bodies have a “language” and our bodies are talking to us all the time. A cough is a “language,” body heat is a “language,” your moods whether they’re good or bad are a “language,” inability to lose weight is a “language,” body itches are a “language,” joint pain is a “language,” acne, rosacea, and skin problems are a “language.” These are all indicators of inflammation. And guess where inflammation begins? In the G.I. tract in exactly the way I described above; toxins and chemicals eat through the barrier wall leak out into the bloodstream and then go on a rampage.

Nature is perfection and nature wanted us to live on a high fat diet. Our very first food (if we were lucky) was breast milk. Breast milk has almost the exact same percentages of saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat, as butter! Nature clearly wanted us to be on a high fat diet. I do not have weight issues and I live on an organic very high fat diet: fats, vegetables, quality grass-fed organic meat protein and organic poultry. My food is delicious. I can have yummy wine reduction or butter sauces, my food is loaded with flavor, and I am never dieting. Dissect the word diet “DIE-T.”

LT: You’ve written on menopause and hormonal issues at length in previous books. So toxins can exacerbate hormonal symptoms too?

SS: Millions of women have found quality of life and the joy of aging with natural bioidentical hormone replacement. I know I had a little something to do with this and it makes me very proud and gratified. But in the last few years, a lot of women had started writing me saying, “I was feeling great on my hormone replacement and now it feels like it’s not working as well; what could be the problem?” Toxins blunt hormone production. Here you are taking your hormones faithfully and simultaneously the toxins are trying to undo the good the hormones are doing for your body. To thrive and survive today, you have to change your life in the following ways: eat organic food, use organic skin care cosmetics (go to SuzanneSomers.com and look at my line of natural toxic free organic skin care, hair care, organic makeup, and organic cleaning products). These things can change your life and the health of your family. The only control we all have is taking care of our own individual spheres: i.e., our families and our homes. Once we leave our homes, we are subject to the environmental assault. In your home, you can close your doors and live a clean, green, organic, toxic-free life. By doing this, you will be way ahead of the game relative to your health as compared to others.

LT: Some health experts feel cheat days are essential in sticking with a healthy eating plan. How do you feel about cheat days?

SS: I guess cheat days would be when you just have to have that ice cream or that sugary dessert. If you have gut issues such as bloating, constipation, gas, discomfort, and unexplained weight gain, then most likely you have “bugs” in your gut. Sugar (and grains which break down to sugar) are a happy meal for any bug, it’s what they crave and feed on. It is how they reproduce. By giving up sugar and grains, your weight will fade away.

LT: In your opinion, what is the one most significant lifestyle change a person can make to better their health now and ward off disease?

SS: Clean up your life by getting rid of all toxins you can control and remember that every choice you make throughout each day matters. Make a list in your mind, every time you put something on your skin, every time you put a morsel of food in your mouth, every time you clean your house, ask yourself: Is this choice leading me toward optimal health or away from it? At the end of the day you are going to be amazed at how often you make the wrong choice. This simple exercise will help you to gain control over your life, your weight, your health, and that of your family.

LT: You have a comprehensive line-up of skin and hair care products. What are you using most right now?

SS: In addition to all my other SUZANNE Organics organic skin care products on SuzanneSomers.com, my formulator just introduced me to this amazing tightening peptide formula, and it’s really doing its job! It has collagen and elastin fibers for an incredible firming effect on the skin. So we developed a system of products around this ingredient: Firming Facial Cleanser, Firming 7-Day Crème, Neck Firming Serum, and Firming Eye Serum. I’ve been noticing that people have been saying to me how good my skin looks and it’s really decreased my wrinkles. And for my hair, True Brazilian Activating Serum – which is a styling serum that keeps your hair frizz-free, super silky, and shiny. All of these products are organic and Certified ToxicFree – I mean, they are actually good for you. What goes onto your skin or scalp, and eventually into your bloodstream, enhances your health, as well as making you more beautiful. What a win/win for everyone.

*Disclaimer: Help support EcoSalon! Our site is dedicated to helping people live a conscious lifestyle. We’ve provided some affiliate links above in case you wish to purchase any of these products.

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Soylent, the futuristic meal replacement product may not be as perfect as it claims. 

Many conventionally grown and processed foods carry the risk of exposure to harmful chemicals and heavy metals. That’s why experts compile lists like the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of chemicals in produce; and conscious consumers, like you and me, shop so carefully. And that’s why it’s both surprising and not-so-surprising that Soylent, the makers of the vegan, nutrient-rich meal replacements, is defending questionable levels of heavy metals found in its products.

Surprising because, when used as recommended or at least modeled, Soylent should replace most, if not all, actual food. An environmental watchdog groups alleges that this means repeated exposure to lead and cadmium at levels above what is permissible in the state of California. And it’s not-so-surprising because, after all, Soylent is a processed food, no matter how it markets itself.

Watchdog group As You Sow alleges that Soylent violates California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, which requires that producers disclose the presence of detectable amounts of harmful chemicals. The group gave notice that it intends to sue Soylent after results from two separate tests performed at an independent lab found “that one serving of Soylent 1.5 (the powder mix) can expose a consumer to a concentration of lead that is 12 to 25 times above California’s Safe Harbor level for reproductive health, and a concentration of cadmium that is at least 4 times greater than the Safe Harbor level for cadmium.”

Long-term, low-level exposure to cadmium can lead to kidney, bone, and lung disease. Lead exposure can affect every organ in the body, but it’s most sensitive target is your neurological system, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Even low levels of exposure to lead are linked to nerve damage, lower IQ, and reproductive problems in adults.

“Nobody expects heavy metals in their meals,” As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar said in a statement. “These heavy metals accumulate in the body over time, and since Soylent is marketed as a meal replacement, users may be chronically exposed to lead and cadmium concentrations that exceed California’s safe harbor level. With stories about Silicon Valley coders sometimes eating three servings a day, this is of very high concern to the health of these tech workers.”

Soylent responded in a blog post, maintaining that “Soylent’s levels of heavy metals are entirely safe and sustainable, even for people using Soylent as a complete food substitute.” The post goes on to say that the California regulations in question are much more stringent than federal and other state regulations, which the product adheres to.

These allegations, and Soylent’s defense, should remind us to look for food sources that care about minimizing these risks and produce food without using harmful chemicals that can be ingested by consumers.

Soylent may contain “safe” levels of these heavy metals, but is that really “safe?” Soylent’s CEO, Rob Rhinehart, boasts that he relies on the product for 80 percent of his diet. I always thought questions about living on a single food for the rest of your life were a joke (for the record, my answer is pizza). I think all nutritionists would agree that eating a varied diet helps ensure your body gets all the required nutrients. It may also prevent excessive and repetitive exposure to chemicals and metals.

Behar told The Guardian that As You Sow has found high concentrations of heavy metals in several protein powder and food replacement products. According to Behar,  this is a consistent problem in processed food substitutes that rely on galvanized piping, ‘It usually comes down to something fairly simple to find and fix in these cases,’ he says.” This is another symptom of the over-processed food system we rely on.

So what can you do? Many experts recommend buying organic food for this very purpose. Organic food is raised and prepared without the use of harmful chemicals. Here is a list of more tips to avoid exposure to toxins in common foods.

Secondly, embrace the trend of buying local and getting to know your producer. Shopping at a farmers market or purchasing a share in Community Supported Agriculture gives you the chance to know who produces your food and how. Local Harvest helps you find one near you.

These simple guidelines are what have kept me away from Soylent so far.

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Soylent photo from Soylent.com

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When you hit the gym or the concrete to go on your daily run, you do so to stay fit and sweat out toxins. Well, it turns out that that whole toxin-sweating goal could be moot. Why? Because all sorts of lovely little toxins could be hiding in your sportswear.

According to The Guardian, Greenpeace, along with European regulatory bodies that monitor chemical safety, are concerned about the link between sportswear and cancer, developmental disabilities, and obesity. Now, most new clothing poses a risk to wearers as most conventional pieces contain toxins. But “sportswear is a particular problem because sweat and friction can prompt more rapid absorption of toxins into the body.”

The event that spiked concern about toxic sportswear was last month’s release of a Greenpeace report. The report discussed “how apparel companies are failing to regulate the chemicals in the sportswear they manufacture,” reports The Guardian.

Although it was the recent Greenpeace report that got people all riled up, The Guardian reports that there has been plenty of other research over the past few years that detail the dangers of chemicals used in sportswear. The main chemical culprits are dyes, solvents, and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).

Another nugget of information that appeared in Greenpeace’s report was a few rankings it gave companies concerning their practices. According to the organization, Adidas is classified as a trendsetter and Nike, a greenwasher.

Adidas received this title because the company underwent some changes after previously receiving the greenwasher status.

“The company [Adidas] sat down with Greenpeace and committed to eliminating hazardous chemicals by 2020 and being 99% PFC-free by 2017. Manfred Santen, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace International in Germany, called this ‘a big step in the right direction,'” reports The Guardian.

Nike, however, disputes greenpeace’s claims and says the company “phased out long-chain PFCs at the beginning of this year, requiring that all materials meet the standards laid out in Nike’s Restricted Substances List.”

So, it probably goes without saying, but next time you look for sportswear, try to find some organic options.

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Shutterstock image of woman running

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A healthy lifestyle, clean foods, nontoxic personal care products. These are all high on our list of must haves. Soaking wet pits are not. How to not sweat when making the switch to natural deodorants?

You use organic cosmetics, nontoxic shampoo, natural body lotion. Have yet to make the change to natural deodorant? This is a trouble spot for many.

Personal preference definitely comes into play when choosing deodorant. But there is one thing all of us can agree on. A deodorant must work. In other words, it has to keep you odor-free and as dry as possible.

Yes, natural deodorant is known for allowing swamp pit to happen. Old school natch deods contain no perspiration prohibiting ingredients and allow the body to sweat naturally. This type of deodorant works to control odor that occurs when sweat sits on skin and forms bacteria. And many do a good job of keeping stink at bay.

The selling point of natural deodorants, other than the obvious avoidance of chemical exposure, used to be the sweat factor. That your body is supposed to sweat to eliminate toxins is a fact. But sweat stains are socially unacceptable, not to mention uncomfortable and gross, so this argument fell flat with most consumers.

Here’s the deal: It no longer has to be this way. You can use chemical-free deodorant without making several shirt changes a day. Natural deodorants without perspiration control are so 2000-yuck. Let’s hop into the now and use nontoxic armpit protection that keeps you fresh as a daisy and provides some dampness defense.

Of course, the natural ingredients used to ward off sweat are not as effective as chemical antiperspirants. Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex, the ingredient used in conventional deodorant/antiperspirants to stop sweat, blocks pores and prevents perspiration from coming to the surface of the skin. The ingredient may be good at its job, but what about the health issues?

Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex is a known skin irritant and has potential to cause DNA damage in humans. Studies have also linked the ingredient to Alzheimer’s disease, citing that aluminum may cause the formation of plaques in the human brain contributing to dementia. And the list of harmful effects on the human body due to aluminum goes on.

Aluminum isn’t the only toxin rolling around in mainstream antiperspirants. Petro-chems, parabens, propylene glycol, and synthetic fragrance are the usual nasty suspects found in most of these products.

Disheartened? Hang on. There are several high quality nontoxic deodorants to choose from and measures you can take to make them most effective.

How to Not Sweat: 5 Tips to Staying Dry With Natural Deodorant (Plus Product Picks!)

1 Stay the Course // Not gonna lie, things get worse before they get better once the switch has been made. It’s common to experience some extra wetness when first using an aluminum-free product. Right before a public speaking event or first date are not ideal occasions to try natural for the first time. Have faith. As your body acclimates to your new products, things will get drier.

2 Stock Up // Yes, I said products. Plural. One of the best ways to make sure your deodorant stays effective, rotate amongst a few. Having three or four options in your dry pit arsenal, and alternating them out each week or two, seems to be key in staving off odor and wetness. I am not sure of the science behind this method, but it works.

3 A Chill Diet // Foods hot in temperature obviously warm you up and cause perspiration. Onions, garlic, coffee, and alcohol are also foods said to get sweat stirred up. Go easy on these when you want to stay dry.

4 Dress for Success // Wear light breathable fabrics and clothes that aren’t too tight to prevent underarms from getting damp. Layering also helps to ward off heat waves and sopped pits.

5 Powder Room // A puff of powder helps to absorb wetness and freshen up underarms. Burt’s Bees Dusting Powder is a talc-free option.

Ok, so which products are best? All of the following natural deodorants are free from harmful ingredients. They also contain sweat absorbing ingredients, like cornstarch, bamboo fibers, baking soda, or arrowroot powder.

Soapwalla Deodorant Cream

Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant

Bubble & Bee Organic Pit Putty Cream

Blissoma Scentless Stick

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Image of woman with sweat mark via Shutterstock

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A handful of recent studies continue to find high levels of toxic materials in shoes. Here are the four major offenders to be aware of.

No ingredient labels come attached your new shoes, and yet, it is still as important for your health to understand what they are made with. Shoe manufacturing is a complicated process with many steps to assemble, and pieces that come together are often filled with toxic materials that pose serious health risks for workers and wearers alike.

A handful of recent studies, detailed below, continue to find high levels of chemicals in shoes. The series of toxins used in making shoes lends to the fact that Greenpeace’s Detox campaign to encourage brands to eliminate toxic chemicals from their products, is extremely timely. Eighteen major global brands have already committed to Detox, including Nike, Adidas, Puma, H&M, Zara, Levi’s, Uniqlo, and Victoria’s Secret. As a customer, you can show your support for the campaign by signing the Fashion Manifesto.

Below are four toxic ingredients to be aware of that are found in shoes.

Chromium

Chromium tanning is present in 80-85 percent of all globally tanned leather. Chromium, a naturally occurring metal and known carcinogen, is extremely toxic to workers and still can be present even for the wearer. The element is also soluble in water, entering waterways and commonly accumulating in fish.

Plasticiser Phthalates

A recent study by the Consumer Council tested 28 pairs of shoes, in which 15 were found to have higher than regulated traces of phthalates. Phthalates are used to soften plastics, and the chemical was found in shoes that were made with plastic. Although this substance is not easily absorbed by the body, off-gases can be inhaled and increase risk of asthma, and even cause hormonal unbalance.

Nonylphenol Ethoxylates (NPEs)

Added to rubber and plastic products during the manufacturing process, companies like GAP, Disney, Adidas, American Apparel and Burberry were found to have detectable levels of NPEs in their products. Although stable and unreactive, NPEs can accumulate in the body and work as a hormone disruptor.

Dimethyl Fumarate (DMF)

Banned in Europe in 2009, DMF is still found in leather shoes, as well as handbags, and other leather products. Used as an anti-molding agent in leather, DMF can cause skin burns and rashes when the substance comes in contact with body heat. A recent three-month study by the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries revealed 25 percent of the shoes tested were contained with the toxic chemical.

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image: Luz Adriana Villa A

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“Unacceptable Levels” is a no-nonsense documentary that will challenge everything you think you know about health, safety, and environmental protection.

Chemicals are everywhere. Not just in pesticides, or cigarettes, or household cleaners. They’re in our food, our clothing, even our water, and no one–not even the scientists who made them or the companies who sell them–know exactly what they’re doing to our bodies or the environment.

That’s the startling message of “Unacceptable Levels” an award-winning documentary by Ed Brown that’s opening people’s eyes to just how flippant we’ve been about bringing these potential poisons into our homes and lives.

The first thing I noticed when sitting down to screen “Unacceptable Levels” was what a regular guy Brown was. He’s not an eccentric, aggressive director like Michael Moore, or a distracting public figure like Al Gore. He’s just a guy. A dad who works in the service industry. His commentary and questions aren’t perfectly scripted. He’s like us: just trying to break down a massive issue to find out what it really means for his family. Brown sets an approachable tone that lingers through the entire movie and draws you into his quest.

‘Unacceptable Levels’ starts with Brown thinking about the chemicals used at his restaurant job. On dishes, counters, and floors. Things he–and the customers–touch every day. It then shifts to his young wife, who shares her mysterious problem with miscarriage while trying to start a family. He embarks on a personal investigation to find out if all of these chemicals really are as “safe” as everyone seems to think.

Throughout the movie, we see Brown interviewing some of the best and brightest minds in chemistry, environmental science, and health care. He also speaks with grassroots activists working to address problems of pollution and illness in their own communities. What they share will make your jaw drop.

After WWII, left with a glut of companies who only knew how to make one thing–chemical weapons–and an American populace flush with money, corporations and the government decided it was time to capitalize. They turned chemicals designed to do one thing–kill humans and animals–into the materials that make up the products that now sit in everyone of our homes and offices.

When problem arose about what to do with the toxic by-products of making these chemical-laden products, laws meant to protect us were manipulated to allow for dumping them in our water or on the agricultural fields that grow our food. Brown’s interviewees discuss how, after decades of this careless behavior, we’re now seeing astronomical increases in chronic disease, infertility, and hormone issues. Increases that the medical community can’t explain, except to say that it can’t possibly be genetic.

Although at points during “Unacceptable Levels” you might feel incredibly discouraged or even nauseous, but Brown retains his open, honest demeanor–and it’s calming. He doesn’t freak out and tell us we’re all doomed. He has hope, and he ends the film with a call to action that we can all respond to: Do something. Care about something. Investigate for yourself. Make a small change. Share what you’ve learned with a friend. Sign a petition or send a letter to a brand that you want to see change.

“Unacceptable Levels” opens the door to conversations about the chemical burden our bodies carry so that we can make informed decisions now and in the future.

Click here for information about screenings, or how you can bring “Unacceptable Levels” to a local theater near you.

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Image: Unacceptable Levels

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A weekly roundup of EcoSalon’s top stories.

Like wearing statements on your chest? In The Best Graphic, Organic T-Shirts, we give you a plethora of opportunities to choose from. From small indie brands in the U.K., to names you know here stateside, we guarantee you’ll find something you like.

People ask us what we read to get so much interesting information. It’s not just our super powers that help us think outside the box, we’re also inspired by others. In Our Big Fat Conscious Reading List: The Best Websites Of 2011, we break it all down for you by our section sites. Happy reading!

Does the term “Homesteading” inspire thoughts of pioneers? Did you know you could become one no matter where you live? It’s true; keeping bees, chickens and a compost can be done with ease and in her article Making Homesteading Approachable, writer K. Emily Bond will give you some ideas on how to personalize it.

We’re not perfect humans, but we are what we eat. That might mean many horror-inducing things to you if you’re a Doritos freak or a cupcake hound. Consuming junk, or even semi-healthy foods in moderation, allows for toxins to build up over time. Is it time to cleanse? In her article Do Cleanses Really Work?, writer Libby Lowe explores not just different cleanses but why we think we need them.

“However you see the relative attractiveness of human bodies, it is a cultural idea, not an inherent truth, that women are more beautiful than men,” writer Starre Vartan says in her article The Beautiful Man.” A woman’s curves are used to entice consumers “to buy toothpaste and batteries,” because society dictates that “it’s just that women are so much more lovely, you see. Implied is the idea that if men’s bodies were somehow less visually unfortunate, their bodies would be used, too. I call bullocks,” says Vartan.

Image: deltaMike

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At one time fish was my go-to food choice when I was feeling worried about supporting the corporate meat industry. Hey, it made sense. Not only was I “voting with my fork” by not supporting large-scale beef producers, like say Tyson Foods, I was also eating healthier, benefiting from such heart-friendly nutrients as Omega-3 fatty acids. Studies have shown societies who eat more fish have fewer health problems, right?

True, eating fish makes for healthier living. Or at least it used to be. This may no longer be the case given the barrage of recent reports about toxins in fish. While it may not exactly be “new” news – pregnant women have long been urged to avoid fish due to worries about high mercury levels – the din of new reports seem to be echoing the high toxic levels themselves.

A recent article reported on stratospheric toxin levels in whales, and not just mercury. Cadmium, aluminum, lead, silver, titanium, and chromium were found in dangerous levels and all purportedly entered the food chain due to human related activities. Another report focused on seawater and its natural ability to retain mercury in its more toxic form.

In an earlier post I wrote about over-fishing and the idea of eating fewer fish in order to play a part in promoting the end of such practices as a consumer. As it is, you may not even want to eat the fish – period exclamation point!

Image: hoyasmeg

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In the growing sea of walk-in nail salons, green alternatives are few and far between, but there is still something to celebrate in the mounting crusade for chemical-free cosmetics.

Among the newest bars on the block in the Bay Area: Nova Nail Spa in San Francisco and Isabella Nail Bar in Oakland – both billed as upscale, environmentally healthy environments using strictly non-toxic products.

Nova describes itself as the city’s first true eco nail salon as it was designed using responsible materials, finishes, ventilation, pedicure seats, lighting and flooring. And it only uses non-toxic shades of OPI and Zoya polishes to avoid that “paint shop smell” associated with traditional nail salons.

Among its services is the Organic Paradise mani-pedi featuring an indulgent bath of geranium essential oil and fresh rose petals, finished off with a relaxing ginger body lotion massage. It costs $72 and there, perhaps, lies the rub. Some salon customers would rather pay half that for a quick in-and-out combo at the nail bar down the street.

“Many come to check out what nail products we use and like it because we use the top organic lines like Spa Ritual and we pay higher for this than regular products,” explains Nova owner Kim Tham, who also offers a $48 early bird special to women working near the Mission Street shop near the Moscone Center.

Across the Bay at true-blue Isabella’s, you can spend $58 for a combo, and pamper yourself with a refreshing and aromatic spa treatments. Its web page explains that it was opened with the goal of defying the pungent smell of acrylic products and “tacky” motel-like set-ups of most shops operating today.

The pungent smell they speak of comes from the toxic trio of toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) which safe cosmetic advocates are pressing the $35 million cosmetic industry to phase out of its nail polishes and other products.

Banned in Europe, the chemical compounds that make up phthalates have been linked to cancer, birth defects, chronic asthma and skin disorders, especially form frequent exposure. Adding to the fumes and the dangers are acetone, solvents, glues and disinfectants which also have been linked to health problems. U.S. watchdogs are quick to regulate hygiene to prevent fungal bacterias, as witnessed in California legislation, but slow to regulate the use of the poisons in the products.

Most at risk are Vietnamese immigrants who comprise 80 percent of the more than 90,000 licensed manicurists in California, alone. There are some 250,000 in America, including Korean and Chinese immigrants joining the fast-growing, money-making sector. These hard working, industrious women have carved a successful niche owning and operating salons and don’t want to risk their livelihoods or retaliation from making a stink. Going green offers a way out.

“It really is about changing the mindset of the workers and the customers,” explains Uyen Nguyen, owner of Isabella, which caters to a middle to upper clientele in the Montclair neighborhood and depends largely on referrals. “The mindset is one of being into the earth and good health and recycling and not focusing on making fast money from acrylics.”

That quick buck is what keeps some manicurists from working for Nguyen, even those who have complained their throats and lungs hurt at the end of the day. She keeps nine employees at one time and pays them well, hoping they will grow along with her. Issues over pay and mistreatment in the industry have surfaced lately, including a lawsuit last August on the part of manicurists in Newark, N.J. who alleged their salon employers failed to pay minimum wage and overtime and barred adequate breaks during shifts.

Nguyen says as word gets around about her green concept, more clients are coming from Berkeley and surrounding areas, and that some of her colleagues are now opening healthier salons and duplicating  her formula for success. Meantime, many other manicurists resist change out of fear.

“I know it isn’t healthy but what can I do?” asks Pong, a pretty 38-year-old single mother of two who works at Tower Nails in San Francisco where she does all of the acrylic nail treatments and hot wax hair removal. She immigrated from Can Tho in 1998 and supports her parents who live with her and her school aged children.

She is right to wonder what she can do, since the burden should really lie with the manufacturers who sell wholesale to the salons which often pay high rent to stay in business. To make a profit, women like Pong work long, hard hours, often six or seven days a week, sharing tips, eating quick lunches in the poorly ventilated rooms between services.

Since Vietnamese manicurists continue to use the hazardous products and don’t advocate for themselves, agencies like  the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative are working to advance an environmental health agenda for the nail salon sector in the state. Fiscally supported by Asian Health Services, an Oakland-based community health clinic, it reaches out to non-English speaking workers who are at a great disadvantage when it comes to accessing and understanding information on chemical dangers.

“One of the things we’re doing is compiling lists of the companies that have removed the toxic trio from their polishes, base and top coats,” explains Julia Liou, the director of program planning and development. “OPI, Zoya, Sally Hansen and the water-based Acquarella are a few that have committed to healthy change, but you have to research them since sometimes, they only take toxins out of seasonal shades.”

While advocates try to inform Asian women of the health risks,  consumers also need to brush up on chemical exposure, and to take a stand against the cosmetic industry with their pocketbooks. They can tell their neighborhood salons they prefer they buy the healthier brands, and start frequenting the emerging green nail bars, many of which are run by Asian women.

“Owners need to offer alternatives and the market needs to dictate the eco concept,” insists Nguyen. “This is how the healthy nail salon will become a trend.”

A Green Salon Near You

• Chi Organic Nail Spa, Beverly Hills, CA
• Evolution Green Room Salon, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Honey Nail Salon, Atlanta, GA
• Julep Nail Parlor, Seattle, WA
• Priti Organic Spa, New York City
• Pure Nails, Austin, TX

Images: quinn.anya, Nova Nail Spa, Isabella Nail Bar, Luanne Bradley

The post Will Green Salons Nail the Problem of Dangerous Exposure? appeared first on EcoSalon.

When the peace of a community is shattered by man-made disaster – an oil spill, a toxic gas leak, a nuclear meltdown – a scar is left that may fade with passing decades but will never fully heal. While some may be able to clean up and return to a sense of normalcy, others stand fenced-off and unchanged like a silent memorial. Located around the globe, these seven catastrophic environmental disasters have had a profound effect upon the earth and local residents that continues today, as many as 50 years later.

Love Canal Community Contamination

In the late 1950s, the little neighborhood of Love Canal, New York seemed idyllic. Located just miles from the picturesque Niagara Falls, the land was purchased by the city from Hooker Chemical Company for a dollar. It was worth much less. The residents of the neighborhood’s 100 newly constructed homes had no idea that they were living atop one big hazardous chemical dumping ground.

But the consequences of building homes and a school where over 21,000 tons of toxic waste lurked just beneath the surface became all too clear by the 1970s with shockingly high rates of miscarriages, birth defects, cancer and nervous disorders. Resident Lois Gibbs led a campaign to uncover the cause, and a federal health emergency was declared, demolishing houses and relocating more than 800 families.

As a result of the tragedy, the Superfund Act was passed by Congress to hold polluters responsible for severe environmental damage. In 2004, Love Canal was finally declared clean, though most of the neighborhood remains abandoned – even though hundreds of similar toxic Superfund sites still sit waiting for their turn.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Meltdown

March 28, 1979 marked the beginning of a three-day series of “mechanical, electrical and human failures” that produced a catastrophic meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power facility in Pennsylvania.

Though the radiation released wasn’t significant enough to cause a public health crisis, the accident brought a general lack of oversight and emergency response planning in the nuclear power industry to light and led to a huge spike in local opposition to the construction of new nuclear power plants.

Cleanup and decontamination of the Three Mile Island accident site cost $975 million and wasn’t completed until 1993. Today, Three Mile Island is still in operation, though the generating station involved in the meltdown is no longer used. A radiation leak was investigated in November 2009, but federal officials say there was no threat to public safety.

Minamata Mercury Poisoning

It’s not common knowledge amongst Westerners, but the Minamata mercury incident in Japan was severe enough to get a disease named after it. A chemical company called Chisso Corporation disposed of thousands of tons of industrial wastewater containing methyl mercury in the town of Minamata from 1908 to 1968, which poisoned the local population through consumption of contaminated seafood.

What’s now known as Minamata Disease was discovered in 1956, when clusters of victims in fishing hamlets along the bay came forward with strange symptoms. Severe cases of the disease led to paralysis, insanity, coma and death within weeks of symptoms first appearing. Similar effects were seen in local animals like cats and birds.

Over 2,265 victims have been officially certified by the Japanese government – 1,784 of whom have died – but over 17,000 people have applied for certification. Chisso Corporation, which stopped using mercury in 1969, has spent $86 million compensating over 10,000 victims and was ordered to clean up the contamination in 2004.


Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill

Who can forget the Exxon-Valdez oil spill? 11 million gallons of sticky black crude oil fouled the pristine Prince William Sound in Alaska on March 23rd, 1989 after a tanker crashed into an iceberg as the captain napped. While it’s far from the largest oil spill in history, it caused the most environmental damage, and images of wildlife suffocating in oil hit the public hard.

10,000 workers spent four summers cleaning up 1,400 miles of coastline, and recent images of Prince William Sound seem to show total recovery. But swaths of oil are still buried just beneath the surface of many beaches and many species affected by the spill are still struggling. If there’s one positive thing that came out of this disaster, it’s the federal Oil Pollution Act, which changed critical industry practices and standards to prevent similar damage from subsequent spills.

Bhopal Gas Leak

The death toll may be as high as 35,000 and the nightmare still continues for victims of one of the most horrendous environmental disasters of all time. Half a million residents of Bhopal, India were poisoned on December 3rd, 1984 when the Union-Carbide pesticide manufacturing plant released extremely volatile methyl isocyanate gas and other toxins into the air due to lax safety standards and budget cuts. Bodies lined the streets and thousands more suffered agony, blindness and permanent health problems.

Many survivors unwittingly passed Bhopal’s legacy to their own children in the form of congenital defects, but that’s not the only way the incident still haunts the population. Union Carbide – now owned by Dow Chemical Company – never cleaned up the contamination and the factory site continues to leak deadly chemicals into the air, soil and water.  The company has eluded charges of culpable homicide in Bhopal for over 20 years.

TVA Coal Sludge Spill

America’s worst man-made environmental disaster occurred on December 22nd, 2008 at the Kingston Tennessee Valley Authority power plant as 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic coal sludge burst over a dam wall, invading the Emory River and 400 acres of nearby homes and farmland.

Coal ash, a waste product, contains arsenic and potentially carcinogenic heavy metals, yet is not regulated by the EPA. That was supposed to change within a year of the spill, but the agency has delayed action. Meanwhile, experts say the spill could have severe lasting health effects for area residents.

TVA estimated that it would have all 2.4 million cubic yards out of the area by 2013, but announced in March 2010 that a complete cleanup is “technologically impossible.”

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Nobody knows exactly how many people died as a result of the catastrophic nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl Power Plant in Ukraine on April 26th, 1986. Officials count 56 direct fatalities and 4,000 cancer deaths, but these estimates are likely on the low side. 1,100 buses evacuated area residents the day the accident occurred, but they had already been exposed to radiation that was high enough to set off alarms in Sweden.

Today, the adjacent city of Pripyat is a disturbing ghost town full of rusting metal, peeling paint and evidence of lives seemingly abandoned in mid-step. Gas masks and baby dolls litter the hallways of a school, clothes still flutter in the wind on a clothesline at an apartment complex.  The displaced survivors may be going on with their lives in other cities, but they’re often doing so with brain tumors, debilitating headaches and birth defects.

People are officially forbidden to live within the 17-mile “Exclusion Zone” around Chernobyl, and radiation levels in the area are still 10-100 times higher than normal “background levels” but several million people continue to live on contaminated land.

Images: coal-ash-spill.com, google sightseeing, Three Mile Island via wikimedia commons, Chisso Factory Effluent via wikimedia commons, Exxon Spill via wikimedia commons, Dow Chemical Banner via wikimedia commons and View of Chernobyl via wikimedia commons

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